Category: marginalisation of women

Each year, we mark the international women’s day to remind us of the continuing struggles of women’s rights and to understand that we have a long way to go. Unfortunately, modernisation has done little to alleviate the saddened plights of women across the world, in particular, the displaced, migrant, elderly, and the disabled women. In some way, there appears to be a disguised continuum of patriarchal authority in both western, developing, and underdeveloped countries.

There are so many issues that are still affecting women, worldwide. From the struggles of attaining women’s rights, birth rights, violence against women, deprived of quality education, honour killings, socioeconomic abuse, forced prostitution, modern-day slavery, forced migration, disabilities, sexual harassment, rape, sexism, and dozens more. The overall sums of these are the discourses on gender inequality. In the majority of workforces, women are not earning the exact benefits and salaries as their male counterparts. Most women do not hold the rights to voluntary abortion in their countries. Some are considered inferior in contrast to the men.

Furthermore, this month is the international conference of the United Nations’ Women’s Committee on the Status of Women, in New York. Lamentably, many female activists from countries affected by the travel ban will not be attending. Even there are those women, who are not nationals of these six countries, but who are refused visas simply because they are MUSLIMS! Are they religious terrorists? Absolutely, not! Nonetheless, and Indirectly, they have been abused and their fundamental rights are taken away from them.

We can venture that there is no more to do to stop the oppression of women. Alternatively, we can choose to speak out. We do not require any expensive instrument to get the messages across. Our voices are what we demand. We must not relent in speaking out. We must not be scared otherwise we will be inapt for achieving an enabling the values of women.

“If 12 per cent of the Internet is pornography – that’s 4.2m websites, 28,000 people looking at porn per second- then that means that 12 per cent of the images of women on the internet are either of them on all fours, rammed into some highly unhygienic PVC, or being forced around out-sized male genitalia, as if their sundry openings were some manner of tube bandage.”

“What goes unsaid is that women might be more ambitious and focused because we’ve never had a choice. We’ve had to fight to vote, to work outside the home, to work in environments free of sexual harassment, to attend the universities of our choice, and we’ve also had to prove ourselves over and over to receive any modicum of consideration.”